Spring 2009
Volume 50, Issue # 3

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Strong brands are often seen as an important corporate asset. But what happens when user communities—connected by the Internet—start to create their own brands? That question was explored in an intriguing August 2008 working paper, “Costless Creation of Strong Brands by User Communities: Implications for Producer-Owned Brands.” The paper suggests that companies with traditional brands would be wise to pay attention to this emerging arena.

“Any one of us — and any one of our organizations — could be forgiven for behaving at the moment like a bear confronting winter,” writes Martin Reeves. And he doesn’t mean “bearishly,” like investors. “No, I mean behaving literally like a bear — which is to say, shutting down the system. Hibernating. Certainly feels like the wise course just now.”